"One of the 12 dead is Jessica Ghawi, an NHL blogger who was rising in the reporting world. Known by most in the hockey world as Jessica Redfield, she had just moved from San Antonio to Denver and had become a correspondent covering the Avalanche. In a sad twist of fate, her last post on her personal blog was about how she barely escaped a shooting in Toronto in early June.

SB Nation's Avalanche blog Mile High Hockey mourned her death:

Jessica became my friend over the last year. She was starting a career in sports journalism, and I regularly picked her brain. She was granted the ever-elusive Avalanche press credentials, and from our seats, AJ and I often watched her doing her thing in the press box. She was smart, friendly, and amazing. A red head through and through, she was a ball of energy and fire, with a quick wit and an infectious personality.

Ghawi's boyfriend was Jay Meloff, an aspiring hockey player currently preparing to try out for the Denver Cutthroats of the Central Hockey League. Prior to the tragedy, SB Nation Denver profiled Meloff's journey in the CHL.

We wish Meloff, Ghawi's family and everyone that knew her well as they mourn her loss."

shes a pretty girl, doesnt make it any better or worse, but its just sad to see what the piece of s*** did to all those innocent people who had such a bright future. 70 wounded, 12 dead. good lord what the hell is wrong with some people.

This was already a tragedy of epic proportions (with the young kids involved, especially), but as with any story, seeing her Twitter feed and reading some of her hockey stuff brought me to an even greater level of personal connection and sadness.

She was actually from Texas and was pursuing her career in Colorado. Amazingly, she was nearly involved in the Eaton shopping mall shooting in Toronto not even two months ago. The idea that such an innocent person could be nearly caught up in a public shooting rampage (which are still extremely rare), blog about it, and then have it happen again not even two months later in a different country and thousands of miles away...it just blows my mind.

I heard something Chris Connely said about this generation of young people, 9/11, and other tragedies on the B.S. Report (Simmons podcast) that stuck with me. He talked about how a lot of people don't understand the obsession with social media and the need to constantly keep friends, family, and even total strangers "in the loop" about what you're doing at a given moment. And he wondered if it had anything to do with a generation whose formative years were marked by Columbine, 9/11, anthrax, and the War on Terror, and in the face of the constant thought their life could end without warning, young people "document" their own lives as a way of saying "I was here. I lived".

Who knows if there's any truth to that, but I'll say one thing, reading that girl's Twitter feed about how she could be tweeting about Shea Weber's contract and excited to see the opening of some movie only hours before her death...there has to be a lesson in there somewhere.

shes a pretty girl, doesnt make it any better or worse, but its just sad to see what the piece of s*** did to all those innocent people who had such a bright future. 70 wounded, 12 dead. good lord what the hell is wrong with some people.

A lot of her colleagues and other hockey people who interacted with her in her short lifetime were on Twitter this morning angry, distraught, and destroyed by this. By all accounts, she was an A+ person.

All the victims and their families are equally important, but there's always that "one" that seems to hook you. I virtually never cry because of things in the news, even ones as tragic as this one, but I remember watching a Columbine memorial, and the description of one of the victims sounded just like a high school age girl that I was friends with the time, and I just lost it. What a waste.

ya her blog about being at that mall food court was insane to read. like you said, the coincidence of being in 2 seperate places where shots were fired is insane. the chances of the happening are astronomical. sad stuff.

i hope this dickhead gets destroyed in jail..and you all know what i mean by that.

<---- I updated my avatar and signature earlier this morning in rememberance, and I'm going to keep it up for awhile.

Very sad to see news like this. You know that each and every victim has their own story, but it makes it all so much harder when you have a chance to see how someone with such promise & potential is snuffed out by a monster taking human form.

A friend of mine put words to this better than I ever could have...

What was to be a fun and exciting night for so many was ruined by a crazed man. My heart to the families and victims. What was supposed to be a movie about fighting this type of evil ended up being used as a way to spread evil.

And he wondered if it had anything to do with a generation whose formative years were marked by Columbine, 9/11, anthrax, and the War on Terror, and in the face of the constant thought their life could end without warning, young people "document" their own lives as a way of saying "I was here. I lived".

That's interesting. I was at U of M during 9/11 and the most traumatic part of that whole day for me was watching people frantically trying to get in touch with their loved ones back in NY but not being able to get through on cells and not knowing if their loved ones were safe. I wonder if the obsession with social media also has to do with a need to be provided multiple outlets to contact others in those types of situations in addition to the need to document proof of their existence?Either way, what a senseless and devastating tragedy. My thoughts go out to all the family and friends grieving today.

Just look at how he hangs his sunglasses from his banana hammock in that last pic. This guyf****** rules. --kipwinger

Really tradgic to hear this. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families. I have no idea what is going on in the world lately, but there sure seems to be a lot of shootings in the US and Canada lately. I hope this guy gets locked up for life and rots in jail

Very sad. There was little kids there that were shot and even killed. I can't imagine a worse way to grow up after that happend to them. They will never feel safe. It will be years before they go see another movie.

Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are or where we are going in this ocean of chance, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself.